Latest From California Healthline:
California Healthline Original Stories
Doctors Fight Legislation Prompted By Sex Abuse Scandals
In response to recent high-profile sex abuse cases, some California lawmakers want doctors to give patients more information about pelvic exams, and then get a signature proving they did. Doctors in the Golden State and beyond are pushing back. (Anna Almendrala, )
Addiction Clinics Market Pricey, Unproven Treatments To Desperate Patients
A desperate mother paid $15,000 for amino acid infusion treatments for her son who struggled with addiction to benzodiazepines. The scientific evidence that such treatments work is scant, but the Indianapolis addiction clinic Emerald Neuro-Recover and others around the country have marketed it heavily. The expensive treatment is not FDA approved or covered by insurance. Dr. John Humiston, the medical director of that clinic, was reprimanded by the Medical Board of California for negligence related to the care of his own teenage son, according to investigation documents. Humiston got his medical license in Indiana in 2018. (Jake Harper, 8/23) (Jake Harper, Side Effects Public Media, )
Good morning and happy Friday! Here are your top California health stories for the day.
Newsom: California Will Join Other States In Suing To Block Trump Administration’s Decision To Hold Children Indefinitely: The Department of Homeland Security announced plans this week for new regulations that would roll back protections for migrant children. Trump officials are taking aim at the 1997 Flores settlement that set minimum standards of care for youths in U.S. custody. The government is generally prohibited from detaining children who traveled to the U.S. alone or with their families for longer than 20 days. “It’s an assault on the Flores decision,” Newsom said of the administration’s new regulations during an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “Clearly, I think it will be rejected by the courts, and the answer to your question is California will once again assert itself in the court of law.” As of last week, California had filed some 56 lawsuits against the Trump administration on a variety of issues, including health care, immigration and the environment. Read more from Taryn Luna of the Los Angeles Times.
Advocates Cheer As LA Considers Banning Sales Of Flavored Tobacco: Under a proposed ordinance that the LA Board of Supervisors is expected to consider next month, stores in unincorporated areas would no longer be able to offer any tobacco products with a flavor in any form. That includes e-cigarettes with fruity pods of liquid nicotine, traditional menthol cigarettes, mint chewing tobacco and cream cigars, among other products. Public health advocates praised the county’s plan, saying it could help cut the alarming amount of e-cigarette vaping by young people. “It’s a tremendous undertaking to make such a sweeping change in legislation,” said Jessica Sims, a healthcare administrator who is on the board of the American Heart Assn. in Los Angeles. “It’s the right thing to do. It will protect kids and reverse a trend.” One in 10 high school students in Los Angeles County is an e-cigarette user, according to a study by researchers at UC San Diego. Among those students, nearly all report a preference for flavored tobacco products. Read more from Matt Stiles of the Los Angeles Times.
Below, check out the full round-up of California Healthline original stories, state coverage and the best of the rest of the national news for the day.
More News From Across The State
CalMatters:
Gov. Newsom On New Police Deadly Force Law: How I'll Know It's Working
Gov. Gavin Newsom said he’ll judge the success of California’s new law limiting police use of deadly force based on whether it leads to a “substantial reduction in the number of fatal shootings.” “We need to see significant improvement in the number of these instances,” Newsom said Thursday in an interview for CalMatters’ Force Of Law podcast.“Ultimately that will be the foundational judge of whether or not this was a successful effort.” (Rosenhall, 8/22)
Sacramento Bee:
Sutter Plans $51.8 Million Expansion At Davis Hospital
Sacramento-based Sutter Health plans a $51.8 million expansion of its hospital in Davis, adding a one-story building that will have more space for its birthing center and emergency department, according to documents filed with the state of California. The master facility plan is in the review stage, and no dates were given for construction. The hospital, which is at 2000 Sutter Place in Davis, will have 57 beds after the work is complete, up from the 48 it currently has. (Anderson, 8/23)
KPBS:
Planned Parenthood Warns Rise In Unintended Pregnancies And STDs
Planned Parenthood warned a rise in unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases would result from their decision to withdraw from Title X, the federally funded family planning program. The organization decided to withdraw from the program because a new rule by the Trump administration that forbids referrals to doctors who can perform abortions. Cita Walsh, vice president of marketing and communications of Planned Parenthood for the Pacific Southwest, talked with KPBS Evening Edition anchor Ebone Monet about Planned Parenthood’s decision. (Monet, 8/22)
LAist:
Planned Parenthood Isn't The Only Group In LA Foregoing Title X Money
As the Trump administration's new Title X rule goes into effect, 41 clinics in L.A. County that get the federal funding are walking away rather than comply with the rule, which prevents health care providers from referring patients to abortion providers.Planned Parenthood announced Monday the organization would pull out of the Title X program. The reproductive health organization lists 23 clinics in L.A. County.Another 18 Title X-funded clinics in L.A. County are following suit, according to statistics provided by Essential Access Health, which manages California's Title X program. (Faust Raghavan, 8/22)
East Bay Times:
Survey: One-Third Of Santa Clara County High Schoolers Tried Vaping
Almost one-third of high school students in Santa Clara County have tried vaping, according to a new county survey, and about 13 percent reported they currently use e-cigarettes. That’s a major jump from a 2015 survey, which found 18 percent of middle and high school students in the county tried vaping at least once in their lifetime and 6 percent reported using e-cigarettes. Although the latest survey contained some changes, its results reveal a sharp rise in e-cigarette use by teens, said Nicole Coxe, a program manager for Santa Clara County’s Tobacco Free Communities program. (Vo, 8/22)
KQED:
Data Pinpoints 14 California Towns Where An Emergency Escape Could Be A Problem
California has the second-largest number of small communities with limited evacuation routes when compared to other states, according to a new nationwide analysis of towns with populations under 40,000. The study, conducted by San Francisco-based traffic analytics company StreetLight Data, identified 100 communities across the country with the most limited means of escaping disasters like wildfires and hurricanes. It found that 14 of those communities are in California, second only to Florida's 20. (Siegel, 8/22)
LAist:
LA's Rules About Where Homeless People Are Allowed To Sit And Sleep Could Get Even More Complicated
The Los Angeles City Council's homelessness and poverty committee on Wednesday recommended repealing a controversial ordinance prohibiting homeless people from sitting or sleeping on sidewalks. The committee wants city council to replace the law with one that is more narrowly tailored, and compliant with a recent federal court decision. (Tinoco, 8/22)
The Associated Press:
Democrats Take A Look At A Practical Health Care Approach
Democratic voters appear to be reassessing their approach to health care, a pragmatic shift on their party's top 2020 issue. "Medicare for All" remains hugely popular, but majorities say they'd prefer building on "Obamacare" to expand coverage instead of a new government program that replaces America's mix of private and public insurance. (8/23)
Politico:
Kamala's Rivals Seize On Health Care Stumbles
Kamala Harris offered her health care plan expecting to bridge the party’s divides and decisively answer doubts about her see-sawing positions. But in the month since, the California Democrat is still struggling to rebut attacks from her chief rivals who are poking holes in its specifics and accusing Harris of putting political calculation before true conviction. Joe Biden’s campaign dismisses it as a “have-it-every-which-way” plan while Bernie Sanders’ camp ripped it as “cobbled together to address various poll numbers.” (Cadelago and Diamond, 8/22)
Politico:
Fact Check: Did Bernie Just Backtrack On Medicare For All?
Speaking to labor officials in Iowa this week, Bernie Sanders unveiled a new twist to his “Medicare for All” plan. His centrist Democratic rivals pounced, accusing the original champion of government-run health care of softening his signature policy in order to placate angry union members. Nonsense, his campaign responded. So what's the deal? (Ollstein and Otterbein, 8/22)
The Hill:
Gillibrand Unveils Mental Health Plan
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) unveiled her plan to improve mental health care in the U.S. this week, arguing that the issue demands more attention from leaders. The Democratic presidential candidate wrote in a Medium post on Tuesday that she plans to invest in community-based approaches to mental and behavioral health, personalize the way the U.S. delivers mental health care and require insurance coverage for mental and behavioral health. (Manchester, 8/22)
The Wall Street Journal:
Health Insurers Set To Expand Offerings Under The ACA
Insurers are expanding their Affordable Care Act plan offerings for next year, with the once-troubled business now generating profits, even as the overall individual-insurance market has shrunk. Oscar Insurance Corp. is the latest to announce its expected growth for 2020, adding six new states, including Pennsylvania and Georgia, to its current roster of nine. Insurers including Cigna Corp. , Bright Health Inc., Molina Healthcare Inc. and Centene Corp. , the biggest seller of ACA plans, also plan larger footprints next year. Anthem Inc. is expanding in at least two of its states, California and Virginia. (Wilde Mathews, 8/22)
Politico:
$16B Veterans' Health Project Hits Major Snag
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie insisted last week that the Trump administration is "on track" with a $16 billion project to connect medical records for the military and vets. But that’s not exactly the case — the project faces significant delays and unanticipated headaches, according to three sources with detailed knowledge of what will be one of the largest technology contracts in federal history. (Allen, 8/23)
The Associated Press:
Feds To Revamp Confidentiality Rules For Addiction Treatment
Federal health officials are proposing to revamp stringent patient confidentiality rules from the 1970s to encourage coordination among medical professionals treating people caught in the nation's opioid epidemic. The idea is to make it easier to share a patient's drug treatment history with doctors treating that person for other problems. That can stave off serious — even fatal — errors, like unwittingly prescribing opioid painkillers to a surgical patient with a history of dependence. (8/22)
USA Today:
Mass Shootings: In Wake Of El Paso And Dayton, Threats Are On The Rise
The three arrests reported Thursday for threats of mass killings bring the total to at least 30 people detained on similar charges since the shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, earlier this month. Even in a country where such attacks have become a fact of life – there have been 263 mass shootings in the U.S. this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines them as four or more people wounded or killed – those numbers are staggering. What’s behind them? (Ortiz, 8/22)
The Hill:
Federal Judge Approves DHS Request To Force Feed Immigrant Detainee On Hunger Strike
A federal judge in San Diego approved Thursday a request from the Department of Homeland Security to force-feed and hydrate an immigrant detainee on hunger strike. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported the 41-year-old man, a Russian citizen, has not eaten since Aug. 4 and has consumed only water, though he has refused to tell officials at the ICE facility how much. (Daugherty, 8/22)
The New York Times:
This Daily Pill Cut Heart Attacks By Half. Why Isn’t Everyone Getting It?
Giving people an inexpensive pill containing generic drugs that prevent heart attacks — an idea first proposed 20 years ago but rarely tested — worked quite well in a new study, slashing the rate of heart attacks by more than half among those who regularly took the pills. If other studies now underway find similar results, such multidrug cocktails — sometimes called “polypills” — given to vast numbers of older people could radically change the way cardiologists fight the soaring rates of heart disease and strokes in poor and middle-income countries. (McNeil, 8/22)
USA Today:
Air Pollution Linked To Early Deaths, Study Says
Smog isn't just annoying, it's also deadly: Exposure to even small amounts of toxic air pollutants is linked to increased cardiovascular and respiratory death rates, according to a new international study. The study, published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, is the largest ever undertaken to investigate the short-term impacts of air pollution on death. It was conducted over 30 years in 652 cities in 24 countries. (Rice, 8/22)
ProPublica:
In Men, It’s Parkinson’s. In Women, It’s Hysteria.
Once it was called “hysterical” movement disorder, or simply “hysteria.” Later it was labeled “psychogenic.” Now it’s a “functional disorder.” By any name, it’s one of the most puzzling afflictions — and problematic diagnoses — in medicine. It often has the same symptoms, like uncontrollable shaking and difficulty walking, that characterize brain diseases like Parkinson’s. But the condition is caused by stress or trauma and often treated by psychotherapy. And, in a disparity that is drawing increased scrutiny, most of those deemed to suffer from it — as high as 80% in some studies — are women. (Armstrong, 8/23)
Los Angeles Times:
Bucking Federal Policy, California Court Blocks Church Attack On Abortion Coverage
An effort by a Catholic mission to narrow the accessibility of abortion insurance coverage in California has been dealt a blow by a state appeals court, which has ruled that abortion must be covered by health plans sold in the state. A three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeal threw out the case brought by the Missionary Guadalupanas of the Holy Spirit, which claimed that it was forced to participate in a “grave moral offense” by a state regulation mandating that all insurance policies provide abortion coverage. (Michael Hiltzik, 8/22)
Los Angeles Times:
The New Title X Gag Rule Means Miserably Long Waits At Clinics For Reproductive Healthcare
If you’re a woman of limited means in need of reproductive healthcare, prepare to wait a long time or drive a long way for it. As of Monday evening, all Planned Parenthood affiliates will have officially withdrawn from the federal Title X program, which has, provided funding for family planning and reproductive healthcare for low-income individuals for nearly half a century. Other healthcare providers are also leaving the program, including Maine Family Planning, which has been the sole recipient of Title X funding in the entire state of Maine. All are leaving because the Trump administration has foisted upon Title X grant recipients a ludicrous rule that would, among other things, forbid healthcare providers to refer patients to an abortion service when they request one. (8/20)
CalMatters:
Do 'Red Flag' Laws Actually Save Lives?
The UC Davis Medical School this week released a report on the state’s new “red flag” law aimed at seizing guns from dangerous persons, saying the data “suggest that this urgent, individualized intervention can play a role in efforts to prevent mass shooting.” The lead author of the law, passed in 2014 and effectuated in 2016, immediately proclaimed it a success. “The UC Davis study shows the importance of having a tool to get guns out of the hands of dangerous people before it’s too late,” Sen. Nancy Skinner, a Democrat from Berkeley, said in a statement. (Dan Walters, 8/22)
Sacramento Bee:
Cancer Treatments In Pill Form Should Be Covered The Same
More effective, less debilitating and easier to administer therapies are now available for many cancers.Many of these new therapies are easier to administer because they come in pill form rather than being administered intravenously or injected in liquid form, an enormously important innovation for both patients and healthcare providers. Many insurance plans, however, refuse to cover oral cancer treatments at the same rate as intravenous or injected cancer treatments. (Samantha Guild, 8/23)
Sacramento Bee:
Assisted Living Is Health Care, Not Just Simple Housing
California’s rapidly aging population, and the challenges posed by this so-called “gray wave,” have sparked much discussion among health care experts and policymakers. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Master Plan for Aging, scheduled to be unveiled next year, affirms the need for decisive and strategic action. Reforming the assisted living industry must be a part of this strategy. (Ed Dudensing and Anthony Chicotel, 8/21)
Los Angeles Times:
Denying Flu Vaccinations To Border Detainees Isn't Just Cruel, It's Dangerous
All of this is to say that influenza is not a virus to sneeze at. It’s a killer, and the decision by U.S. Customs and Border Protection not to provide vaccinations to migrant families being detained at the border is dangerous and short-sighted.The CBP’s justification, which came in response to questions from physicians about health conditions at the facilities, is that border detention is intended to be short-term, and that once children are transferred into the Department of Health and Human Services’ care, they can get vaccinations and other necessary treatment. (Mariel Garza, 8/21)